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Friday, May 21, 2010

Reader Question: My fiance and I went through so many phases in our planning- anger, frustration, happiness, sadness, etc. but now we're finally in a good place. Now that we feel good about our decisions, I've been able to focus more on the "details". I really liked your recent post about clapping during the ceremony and recruiting the help of guests in making that happen. Then I was thinking, how can I take our ceremony to the next level and I thought- Confetti Poppers! Of course, dispensing tons of teeny pieces of paper around a local park is not going to fly with me or anyone, so I was wondering if you had suggestions on eco-friendly confetti or something that is more natural that our guests can throw?

Hmm...the only thing that comes to mind is bird seed (and the packaging above is utterly adorable).Or maybe something from the bulk aisle at Whole Foods? Like millet or barley or something?

What about leaves? OR rose petals? I'm currently dead heading all the roses around here and laying them out on paper to dry. You could do something similar with leaves. If you are getting married in Fall(Autumn)you'd have a hoard of leaves at your disposal I'm thinking and I don't imagine the local park would have a problem with you scattering a few more of them about. Another option is bubbles instead of confetti and of course there's always good old fashioned rice...

I have always heard that rice is not a good option because it is harmful to birds. Not sure how true it is, but it is worth checking into before going that route. Also, the lavendar and grass seed ideas are really cool but are they too light for distance throwing?

We threw whirly birds (helicopters) at our wedding. They are my favorite, ever since I was a kid. I love the way they spin and flutter to the ground- nature's perfect design! I collected them from maple trees in April, but I believe you can also order them online.

It depends on where you are having your wedding, what works out to be eco-friendly. Rice is indeed bad for birds, because it expands when it comes in contact with the water in their stomachs (much as it does in our pots) - so that's a big no-no.

Birdseed can also be bad, depending on where you are. If you are in a forest with lots of native plants around, and you scatter birdseed, this can actually introduce non-native plants into the area that have the capacity to spread fairly quickly (the plant that grows birdseed is actually considered a weed). So if this is the case, check with the local park officials or ecologiists before doing anything like that.

However, birdseed is obviously not going to have a very easy time planting itself on a beach.

It's all a matter of your situation, but I would definitely recommend doing some research into the options first.

At our wedding, we used biodegradable confetti from here http://www.ecoparti.com/toec.html Our wedding was in December, so we chose the white, and it looked just like snow. Beautiful! This confetti goes away with a little water- very easy cleanup! And it comes in lots of colors!

We're getting married outside an aquarium so I wanted something ecofriendly tossing stuff. I found and am in love with eco-fetti I found it here http://www.ecoparti.com/toec.html I'm going to be ordering blue and green as they are our wedding colors.

I know it's been done a million times, but rose petals? The venue we're getting married at is home to a bunch of the cutest bunnies that just run around the place when the sun goes down....I am not super keen on the rose petal lined aisle but after the coordinator at our venue told us that the bunnies love to eat the rose petals that are left at the ceremony site I said "we need petals down the aisle!" because I want to see dozens of bunnies out there after we get married!

We mixed birdseed with lavender for an amazing scented "confetti" that was friendly to birds. The lavender flowers are also a little bit more lightweight than birdseed, so I didn't worry about getting pelted quite as much.

I came across this Irish custom while trying to figure out our ceremony: ringing tiny bells to ward off the evil spirits and restore the union between the married couple. I'm handing out tiny bells to my guests and at the end of the ceremony, hopefully all will joyously ring. No clean-up, no worrying about the birds...

I, too, would warn against birdseed. A friend chose that after her wedding to be more eco-friendly but was less thrilled with the idea after getting pelted with birdseed and spending the rest of the night with birdseed in her hairdoo and down her dress.

We did the bubble thing - pretty to see, but well a little soapy when you are bombarded by them.BTW when I saw the title "wedding confetti" on this post I thought maybe you had been talking to my husband - he called all of those awful catalogs that kept coming and coming once I was on a wedding list just that.

Us

We're the kind of people who would rather be outside than in. We drink mostly water. A lot of it. We're the kind of people who put on costumes at Halloween and drive around town delivering brownies (with bows) to friends and random people in the service industry. We cook four nights a week and eat out three. We're passionate about making the world better, and we spend lots of time actually trying to do it.